There are a few elements here that are interesting and make sense... and a few that seem a bit questionable. First up, the musical group left Sony BMG last year and rather than signing a deal with a new record label, instead partnered with drink brand Bacardi, which has a long history of sponsoring music and live music events. This was interesting and followed on similar experiments by brands like Tag body spray, which launched its own record label recently, as well. It also followed on the massive success some musicians have seen in China by focusing on "sponsored" music.

That happened last year. What was new that was announced at Midem was the ability for people to download and share songs from an upcoming EP. I'll let reader SteveD summarize the good and bad:

Restricts further access to content until you've invited x number of friends

'Rewards' system is really just a way of getting you to abuse you address book for them (access to all 4 tracks requires you spam 2000 friends, according to site Q&A).

To the "bad" list, I'd add the fact that the program is only going on for a month or so, and then the special "sharing widget" goes away. Again, there's plenty to applaud here in experimenting with new models, especially involving sponsored content and giving away music for free. However, the execution involving spamming of friends leaves plenty to be desired. That's not so much about connecting with fans as forcing yourself on people who aren't interested.

2000?

Wow. How many people have 2000 personal friends in their address book that will be willing to sign up? Not many, I would suspect. So are they hoping people will just go out and get some address lists and start spamming for them? Uck!

Uh...

What a colossal waste of time. Even if I wanted to participate, 2000 people just to get 4 songs? I dont even KNOW 2000 people. Who let this brain-fart of an idea into this "business model"? I mean come on, who could possibly qualify for this? And like poster #1 said, whats the alternative, spamming strangers? Oh yeah, because THAT has worked out so well for people so far. Come on, get a clue.

Re: 2000?

Guys

Form what I can see you dont have to share to 2000 people directly, once you share to say 10 friends, and they continue to share, and so on and so on, you are rewarded for the cummulative sharing... so if it gets out top 2000 people you get the track, but you dont have to directly share it to that many...